NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: MITHRAS — “ODYSSEY’S END”

Sep 222016

The new single by Mithras that we’re helping premiere today, “Odyssey’s End“, is like no other song I’ve heard this year. Given the many hundreds I’ve heard so far across a broad range of metal genres, that’s saying something. And so although I’m going to share a lot of information about the new Mithras album in this post, I have to start by expressing more elaborately my enthusiasm for this track.

Of course, I wouldn’t blame you for jumping straight to the music at any point, but you shouldn’t be reading (or do anything else) while you experience the music. Give it your full attention, and then prepare to loop right back to the beginning of it when you finish. This track requires way more than a single listen to take in all that it has to offer. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SARA TAYLOR (YOUTH CODE)

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Sep 222016

(John Sleepwalker of Avopolis.gr returns to us with this interview of Youth Code’s astonishing frontwoman Sara Taylor. The band’s latest album, Commitment To Complications was reviewed on this site here.)

Youth Code is the most unconventional, yet simultaneously accessible, EBM band that would break into your house and smash your TV in pieces. By drawing their inspiration from old industrial to hardcore punk music, their blend of influences deliberately exhales remarkable amounts of intensity in ways rather provoking to all human senses. Sarah Taylor, however, was kind enough to answer our questions on the band’s not too distant past, as well as their current goals and creative focus on their music. Without denying, of course, how the internet is partialy responsible nowadays for a big loss of magic in our music. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CRUCIFIED MORTALS — “TRAITOR”

Premieres 1 Response »

Sep 212016

Cleveland’s Crucified Mortals have been reaping souls in the underground for 15 years, with a long string of short releases eventually leading to their self-titled debut album in 2011. More hellish splits and a single followed that full-length, and now the band’s second album is ready for discharge. Fittingly entitled Psalms of the Dead Choir, it will be released by Hells Headbangers on October 28, and today we have for you the premiere of a song called “Traitor“.

One song from the album (“Behind the Lurid Mask”) has been previously released, and we were given our choice about what to divulge next. That was not an easy decision, because for an album steadfastly devoted to death/thrash each song incorporates different ideas and sounds, and that makes the entire album-run a trip that doesn’t wear out its welcome. You’ll find impressive technical intricacy in this album, and rhythmic and chord progressions that often don’t follow a predictable path — even though the ultimate destination is still a flaming hell on earth. “Traitor“, however, got stuck in my head for several reasons. Continue reading »

A CHILL IN THE AIR: LOST HOURS, NIGHT PROFOUND, SINISTRO, EUFORI, SEA OF BONES

Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 1 Response »

Sep 212016

Where I live, the season is changing rapidly. The daylight hours are diminishing, the darkness constricting like a noose. A chill is in the air. The fall is coming.

Last night a strange and serendipitous thing happened as I was making my usual way through a list of new songs I had discovered yesterday. I happened to listen to everything I’ve now collected in this post, one after the other, right in a row. I was struck by how perfectly they suited the mood of the change in seasons. I’ve re-ordered them slightly in this post, as compared to the order in which I originally heard them, to include two songs that are exceptions to our “rule” in the middle of this chilling playlist.

LOST HOURS

I discovered Lost Hours through an e-mail they sent us yesterday. They’re from Atlanta and a few days ago they released their third album (III) through Bandcamp. It consists of two songs, “Gently Before She Dies” and “Your Vice is a Locked Room”. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: PER VALLA (VREDEHAMMER, ABBATH)

Interviews 1 Response »

Sep 212016

(Karina Noctum returns to us with this interview of Norwegian musician Per Valla, founder of Vredehammer and Valla and former member of Abbath.)

Tell us about yourself, your musical career so far…

I was born and raised in a small town in the north of Norway called Mo i Rana. Here I lived a typical small-town life with typical small-town friends and typical small-town dreams. When I was around 15 years old I injured my knee, and my dream of becoming a professional football player instantly died.

That same day after leaving the hospital, I went to our typical small-town music store, and the first thing I saw when I entered was a VHS with the amazing John Petrucci on the cover — entitled Rock Discipline. I bought the fucker and from that day on I started practicing guitar and my focus on being a professional football player quickly turned into working towards becoming a professional metal guitarist, preferably lead guitarist. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: NOCTEM, SCUORN, GLOSON, NECROVEN, NEGATIVE SYMBOLS, CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX, N.K.V.D.

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 9 Responses »

Sep 202016

Maybe I should have divided this round-up of mostly new music into multiple parts in an effort to reduce the sensory-overload risk. But I was so happy with the range of diversity in this collection that I decided to leave it alone. Hope you find some things to like in here.

NOCTEM

Haeresis is the name of the new album by one of our site’s favorite bands, the Iberian horde known as Noctem. They’ve been dribbling out tracks from the album since August, with “Through the Black Temples of Disaster” and “The Submission Discipline” having been previously released, and yesterday I discovered a third single, “Pactum With The Indomitable Darkness“. Continue reading »

MESHUGGAH — MY VIOLENT FIRST IMPRESSIONS (BY ANDY SYNN)

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Sep 202016

(Andy Synn delivers his first impressions of Meshuggah’s new album, The Violent Sleep of Reason, with thoughts on a track-by-track basis as well as overall.)

Despite what some of their detractors might say, every Meshuggah album is different. The basic ingredients might stay the same, but each album leans in a slightly different direction… Nothing brought the groove, Catch 33 went all experimental, obZen was the overtly “technical” album, and Koloss the more song-based, riff-based number… which is why every Meshuggah album is ultimately going to be someone’s favourite Meshuggah album.

So the big question really isn’t “how good is The Violent Sleep of Reason?”… no, what we should be asking is “what sort of album is it…?”

With that in mind I decided that, this time around, it would be more fun to eschew the traditional review format and instead just note down my first impressions and overall musings about the album as I listened to it. So, just as Meshuggah went for a more raw and “organic” approach this time (doing it all live in the studio for the first time in their career), so too am I going to produce a much more raw and unedited piece of writing while I listen to it.

Of course I reserve the right to change my position in the future, but for now… let’s just see what happens! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CRUZ — “CULTO ABISMAL”

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Sep 202016

For a long stretch of years, Spain has been a breeding ground for excellent metal bands across a wide range of extreme metal genres, and now one more must be added to that long list — a band from Barcelona named Cruz. Their first full-length bears the title Culto Abismal and it will be released on October 7 through the collaboration of four labels, including a tape and vinyl release in North America by Oakland’s Sentient Ruin. Today we join that conspiracy to bring you a first listen to the album’s powerhouse title track.

You could probably guess that Cruz are on the right track just by looking at the nightmarish cover art beautifully executed by César Valladares, and that would be a correct guess. “Culto Abismal” is equally well conceived and equally well-executed to deliver a hellish and highly electrifying rampage of old school death metal with a strong crust punk flavor. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RUDRA — “ABATING THE FIREBRAND”

Premieres 5 Responses »

Sep 192016

We have been writing about Singapore’s Rudra since 2011 at this site, but although that’s a fair number of years, it’s far exceeded by the longevity of the band itself. Rudra was formed in 1992, pioneering in a genre they term “Vedic metal”, which is a form of blackened death metal in which Rudra (who are themselves of Indian lineage) have often incorporated elements of music rooted in Hindu traditions (including the use of Indian classical instruments), with lyrics often drawn from Vedic Sanskrit literature and philosophy.

In a career that has spanned nearly a quarter-century, the band have released seven albums, and the eighth one — Enemy of Duality — will be coming out this December. Today we are privileged to bring you the album’s opening track, “Abating the Firebrand“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: AXIOMA — “MONOLITH OF FIRE”

Premieres 1 Response »

Sep 192016

Monolith is the title of the first EP by a band from Rome, Italy, named Axioma, and today we present the debut of a song from the EP named “Monolith of Fire“.

The song is a fascinating one. It’s dark as a moonless night and heavy as hell, with dissonant unearthly guitar melodies suggestive of arcane forces at work, and deep, heartless growls that reinforce the sensation of ominous, unseen threat. Yet the song has other facets that reveal themselves as it moves forward along its twisted path. Continue reading »

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